Global Policy Forum

President Bush signed into law the FY2005 omnibus spending package on December 8th, completing action on the budget for the current fiscal year, which began on October 1st. Congress had completed its work on the bill (H.R. 4818) several weeks ago, but had delayed sending it to the White House until it could pass separate legislation deleting a controversial provision from the omnibus concerning congressional access to individual tax returns. No public law number has yet been assigned to the bill.

Included in the omnibus are US assessed and voluntary contributions to the United Nations and its specialized agencies and related programs. The bill provides $1.182 billion for dues payments to forty-four international organizations, including the United Nations. This number is $12 million less than the Bush administration had requested. A much more substantial cut was made to the President's request for UN peacekeeping assessments, with the bill providing only $490 million of the $650 million that had been requested. For more information on UN aspects of the now-enacted omnibus, see our Washington Report article of December 1st.

Conferees Troubled by Reports that UNRWA Assets Misused

One item not covered in last week's article is language in the conference report (H. Rept. 108-792) expressing concern on the part of House and Senate negotiators about the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Specifically, conferees state that they are "deeply concerned" about "reports" that UNRWA facilities and vehicles are being misused for terrorist activities and "the recent statement by UNRWA's Commissioner-General that the agency employs members of the terrorist organization Hamas." Conferees direct the State Department to work with the UN and UNRWA to develop measures to ensure that the agency's resources "are not diverted for terrorist purposes, and that the agency is not employing terrorists." They also "note that continued United States support for UNRWA depends on its compliance with United States law prohibiting assistance to terrorist organizations."